Peak curry take-away for TV’s Top Gear crew

Dan Hayes

A top Peak District Indian restaurant got a take-away call with a difference last week when it was asked to feed a TV crew on the hills above Hathersage.

The BBC’s popular motoring series Top Gear was in the area and asked the Maazi Indian restaurant to help the crew warm up in the snow.

Rory Reid and the Top Gear crew.

And, after the restaurant’s owners delivered them some top quality spicy food - they liked it so much they went back the next day.

Assistant manager, Linda Vuong, said: “They told us they were up here filming for about a week.

“So we ended up catering for about 30 of them on Friday and another 20 of them on Monday as well.”

The crew told them they found the restaurant online and noticed that they did take-away tiffin lunches.

Maazi curries for Top Gear.

They then called them and ordered a variety of chicken and vegetable dishes which were promptly delivered to the filming location.

“They were all really friendly and let us watch them filming and offered to take pictures for us,” said Linda.

“It was really wet and cold up there on both days so they were all saying thank you so much for bringing them the food.”

The crew was filming in the Peak District snow for an episode of the new post-Chris Evans series starring new presenter Rory Reid.

The BBC Top Gear crew.

The exact location is a closely guarded secret but is believed to be somewhere near Mam Tor, a hill which separates the Edale and Hope valleys.

Derbyshire police had to close a number of roads to accommodate the shoot which perhaps helps explain why Maazi’s tiffin lunches needed a police escort to get from the restaurant to the filming location.

Maazi operates two popular restaurants in Derbyshire, one in Hathersage and the other in Matlock.